“Also known as Algodones Dunes, the region in southeastern Imperial County has for years been the focal point of legal wrangling between off-roaders seeking to keep acreage open and environmentalists demanding protection for the area’s sensitive plant and animal species. Environmental groups called the plan the largest desert conservation rollback in a decade, limiting protected space for the threatened Pierson’s milk vetch and disturbing habitat for desert lizards and other animals. It allows recreation to trump protection of “a suite of species that are found in the Algodones Dunes and not found anywhere else,” said Illene Anderson, a biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the parties to the original lawsuit. Anderson said the group would challenge the new plan. The BLM intends to set aside 9,000 acres designated as critical habitat for the milk vetch plant. But the off-limits zone is in the middle of an area otherwise open to motorized recreation, making it difficult for authorities to patrol.”
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U.S. seeks to reopen disputed Imperial Sand Dunes area to off-roaders - latimes.com
Biodiversity conservation is simply not a priority for the Obama administration.
